


prison toys || nothing lasts forever

by madcapdragonshenanigans



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: "Six has never done anything wrong in her life!" also no, "Six is evil!" no, All the time, Gen, RK and RCG are mentioned/briefly seen, but i did tag their deaths as major character death, but she's not evil, not major, since im a dummy, six has done many things wrong, sorry for any confusion, thanks for coming to my ted talk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29872122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madcapdragonshenanigans/pseuds/madcapdragonshenanigans
Summary: "Dangling above an abyss, clinging to the one thing keeping her from falling to her death. How many times had she been in this situation? How many times had she been the one thing between another and the abyss? The longer she spent alone, the longer she spent in the Maw, the blurrier it all became. A drawing in the rain, breath on a window. "After the tower, Six must continue without her friend.
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 82





	1. ||1||

**Author's Note:**

> i have too many emotions for a grown ass adult, so have some hopefully decent fan fiction.

This time, Six is the one who’s falling.

In her dreams, she’s always the one falling. She opens her hand, and she falls. She watches her own face get swallowed by the darkness as she plummets. And then she wakes up. She wakes up and pretends the damp on her cheeks is from the water that is somehow omnipresent inside the Maw. If she doesn’t feel, if she pretends she can’t, it won’t hurt.

It does, but she can pretend it doesn’t for a short while. She can pretend it’s the hunger.

Always the hunger. It gnaws at her, never truly gone. It consumes her from the inside like a dark thing. A dark her. The echo of something left behind. She’ll see it sometimes, when she loses control, when she feeds that pit her stomach. Her own ghost mocking her.

It’s better to pretend, to let the world eat her memories before they consume her.

Six brushes the crumbs off of her face and sits with her back to the wall, head pressed into the bars. The other child, the stranger, sits on the other side. The room fills with their breath, a hollow reminder that even here they’re alive.

“How long have you been here?” the stranger asks.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you remember before? Before you were taken?”

“Yes. Do you?”

“No.”

They fall silent for a time.

Somewhere above, something leaks. Liquid drips onto Six’s bare knee, a steady rhythm. She misses the rain. The drumming on her skin, the damp on her skin, the smell of it on cracked pavement or naked earth.

“Could you tell me? About what you remember?” the child asks.

“Maybe.”

“You’ll forget, if you don’t. Saying things out loud helps. If you make your memories real, they won’t fade away.”

“What if I want to forget?”

“You won’t have to wait long. This place will eat you whole.”

It would be so simple, she thinks, to focus on this child. Wouldn’t surviving be easier with two? Two children against unknown monsters would always be better odds than one. Some time and exploration and she could get them out. The two of them could get out together. She and Mono would be free, and then…

Six stood up. She had to go. Now.

She was halfway up a stack of crates up to a hole in the wall when she paused and looked back at the stranger, who had only moved their head to watch her go.

“Thanks,” Six mumbled, feeling the words tumble out unbidden.

“Good luck.”

||

Sometimes, at the end of the fall, in the darkness that surrounds her, she sees a face. A mask. A tall woman with her back to Six slowly turns, and when there should be a face, there is only a white expanse with cold dark eyes. And even in the fear, even waking up shivering, sweating, alone, Six thinks of Mono. Thinks of the shadows beneath the paper bag. Thinks of the one time she saw their eyes with her own.

And then she tries not to think.

In the darkness you can almost trick yourself into believing your memories are nightmares. To imagine something better. To hum until the drone of your own hoarse voice becomes a blanket against the world. To pretend that the sound of your own comfort isn’t tainted by guilt. By regret.

But the Eyes are everywhere. They always had been, beyond the scope of Six’s memory. But now the sight of them sends waves of nausea through her. Her hands grow sweaty and her heart races so fast her body can’t catch up.

The prickling of stone forming on her skin feels like static as she stumbles into darkness once more. The Eye seeps away, looking for another. Hand shaking, she lights an abandoned lantern. And she sees one.

A Nome slipping through a crack in the wall, hidden by a broken cage.

Six follows, clambering over the metal meant to trap her. Inside the wall is a cozy space. Little bits of broken things, and lost things tucked away to form a home. She remembered many similar hideaways tucked inside the Nest. The sight of a Nome was a sight of safety. A moment of respite. This Nome seemed more frightened than the ones she’d met before.

“Hey,” Six whispered, stretching out a hand to the shaking creature.

It shrunk further away.

“You don’t understand me, do you?”

She crawled forward, slowly, low to the ground. The Nome didn’t move away, just stayed meekly still. Once again, she reached out her hand, and she could swear the Nome was now looking at her with eyes she could not see.

She hugged it.

It was a stupid, impulsive gesture. But the Nome made a cooing noise that sounded happy and it stayed close to her when she let go.

_“Hey, hey, Six. Look.”_

_She looked over the dresser, back where they had come in and where Mono had just reappeared. He was wearing a tall white cap that covered his entire face with its size._

_“I’m a Nome!”_

_In spite of herself, she giggled._

Six gave the Nome a friendly pat.

“Stay safe,” she mumbled.

It chirped at her. She left.

||

Hunger made Six do stupid things.

This dark hunger that wasn’t her own, the echoes of her monster form. The monstrosity she still was on the inside. That she always had been. And monsters belonged in cages. Deserved to lose their friends. Their friend. She’d only ever had one. And she’d dropped him.

No. She’d let him go.

It had been the smell of him, the sweat, and then sudden need to tear into his flesh. To hunt. To satisfy the bottomless pit inside her. All she had to do was to pull her prey towards her.

So, she let go.

Now, she crawled towards the smell of meat. Strong, rancid, but meat nonetheless. Her mouth watered even as her mind rebelled. But she needed to eat. The static along her skin spoke of her dark self-watching. Waiting for her to feed it.

Hunger made her do stupid things.

Six crawled into the cage and ate the rotten meat, the darkness inside her curling and consuming her mind until the sharp metal snap of the cage closing in on her.


	2. ||2||

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoping to keep regular updates, but my partner and i are moving this week so who knows.

The dragging, horrible metal on metal sound of cages being dragged away would never leave Six’s mind. When her mind was quiet it would slip in, ringing in her ears.

The Janitor’s long arms grabbed a cage and dragged it through the far door. And there was silence again. Her own breathing rattled through her ears. Her heart beat in her finger tips. She kicked out at the cage, just to feel something, just to hear something.

“Hello?” a hoarse voice calls out.

Six sits up slowly, wrapping her fingers around rusty bars to peer down at the other caged child. A boy in blue, with a manacle around his ankle. He leaned against the cage, his face pressed uncomfortably. His clothes were damp, and his eyes were dark.

“Hi,” he said again.

Six waved, ever so slightly.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded.

“I watched the Janitor bring you in, you didn’t look so good.”

Six smiled despite herself.

“You don’t look so good either.”

The boy took a moment to take in his own appearance.

“I’ve had better days.”

The heavy door opened, and a long, malformed arm snaked through, taking hold of the boy’s cage.

“I’ll see you on the outside!” he called out before he too, was gone.

And for a moment, she believed him.

A moment just long enough to summon enough strength to break out of her cage and bruise her ribs as she threw herself against the metal and tumbled to the floor.

||

Dangling above an abyss, clinging to the one thing keeping her from falling to her death. How many times had she been in this situation? How many times had she been the one thing between another and the abyss? The longer she spent alone, the longer she spent in the Maw, the blurrier it all became. A drawing in the rain, breath on a window. Her fingers buried tight in a body bag drifting ever higher over an endless darkness.

When she closed her eyes, she saw the arms. Dismembered by the door, dismembered by her own hand. How many times had she done that? Killed or maimed? How many times would she? She used to feel fear, disgust, guilt. Now it was numb. Just numb.

The bag rocked as it crested an opening, and Six fell.

Beneath, she fell onto more of those same body bags. The rancid smell of forgotten meat, the sour taste in the back of her mouth. Her stomach growled a warning.

_There was a rattle as Mono pulled on the lever of the vending machine. A soda tumbled out. He pulled again and a second one followed. Then a third. He gathered them into his arms and slipped one into his pocket, then handed the other to Six, before cracking open the last._

_“Lucky,” Six said, opening her can and taking a long sip._

_“Huh?”_

_“Wouldn’t have thought to check the machine.”_

_“Never hurts.”_

_They sat with their back to the wall, side by side. The drinks did little to comfort their empty stomachs, but it would keep them going. For a while at least. And sweetness… sweetness was a rarity that Six barely remembered._

_The sickly green light bulb flickered in the way that all light in their world did. Maybe it would go out. Maybe it wouldn’t. Six was no stranger to darkness. She shifted, slightly, to a more comfortable position and pressed the side of her foot against Mono’s. He pressed back._

Six released the no longer struggling rat. Blood leaked out from the hole on its side as her dark self faded away, pixel by pixel. Just a glitching after image. She let her fingers trail of the rats matted fur, her eyes staring into its glassy ones. It was better, wasn’t it? To kill it? To use the last of its life to sustain her own, instead of letting it slowly die half caught in a trap?

Maybe.

Hands shaking, she reached out and gently closed the rat’s eyes. A simple thanks. The only thanks she could give.

||

The bodies went to the kitchens. Twin chefs cut them apart, pulling meat from bones, creating a feast. Carnage. Slaughter. Hiding under tables and cabinets, Six stared into their empty eyes. Their baggy, flesh masks did little to hide the corruption and distortion underneath. They would reach under to scratch, and she could see the telltale signs of the signal’s influence. The twisted, yellowed flesh, spiraling upwards until it consumed the eyes.

Had they gotten away in time? Or were they blind to all but their calling?

Slipping between fat-greased fingers, she knew the answer was the former. She was merely another ingredient to them. They were merely another monster to her.

_There was something calming about breaking things. The mannequin hands in hers was so simple. Delicate, but strong. Taking a finger in her own it was so easy to snap. It was a quiet channel of anger, a release of the knots inside her mind and soul._

_“Hey?”_

_She paused in her snapping. Mono stood in the doorway, holding a light-fuse._

_“Hey.” She snapped the last of the mannequin’s fingers._

_“You okay?”_

_She nodded, standing. “You?”_

_“Fought off a hand.”_

_“A hand?”_

_“Yeah.”_

Six was so much farther now, so much higher up. She could smell the sea, hear the waves crash against the metal. Maybe soon, she’d find the way out.

Maybe soon.


	3. ||3||

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i made myself cry with this one so good luck y'all

The salt spray froze her hands, the chains and metal railing bit her chapped fingers. Her eyes stung, her lips bled, her ears rang, rang, rang with the sound of the world. But her lungs were filled with fresh air, and she knew the higher she went the closer she would be to freedom. Or at least she’d be closer to controlling her fate.

_Her body hit the stone floor of the bathroom, her head spinning._

_“Hey?”_

_Six’s eyelids were heavy. So heavy. Distorted, blurry, she saw the familiar brown square. She fumbled, fingers outstretched, grasping at air. He caught her wandering hand and pulled her close. Her head at his heart, she felt him hum._

_It wasn’t her song, not the song her music box played so sweetly._

_“Hmm hmm hm hmmm, hmm hmm hm hmm, hm hmmm hm hmmm…”_

_“Whasat?” she mumbled, pulling at his sleeve._

_“Made it up.”_

_“Like it.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Yeah.”_

Below her, guests arrived on the Maw. She followed, clinging to the beams, jumping from light fixture to light fixture. A plan began to formulate, a plan of waiting. If she could just find a hideaway, a place to wait, she could leave when they did.

A hint of white, high above.

Tall, graceful, masked. A sight Six had tried to forget. A sight that was crawling into her dreams again thanks to the dolls littered through the Maw. Dolls she had broken. Shattered. Pieces of porcelain, dust clingy to her feet, making them bleed.

_Six let out a shriek and tossed the doll away, watching it bounce and roll out of sight. Her breath came in ragged waves, her voice and strength fleeing her. She buried her hands in her coat, pressing the slick texture into her palms. The rough seams rubbed against her skin and she felt her breath steady._

_“Six?”_

_“Mono?” she called; her voice hoarse, always hoarse._

_Back tracking to the barred hallway, she saw Mono standing in the room with the unsettling chair and the second fuse. Behind him, plastic hands reached and grabbed at air._

_“You okay?” he asked._

_Six nodded. Tears pricked at her eyes and she shook her head._

_There was silence between them as Mono got the fuse light and Six used it to get him out of that horrible room. The silence stayed thick as they retraced their steps, a fuse each, to the elevator. It wasn’t until the elevator doors closed behind them and Mono’s hand found Six’s that either said anything._

_“I found, I…” Six took a steadying breath._

_Mono squeezed her hand._

_“Saw a doll that looked like… someone.”_

_“Someone you knew?”_

_Six nodded. “She helped trap kids. To be used for… things.”_

_“What’d she look like?”_

_“Dark hair, white mask, robes.”_

_Mono squeezed her hand again. “I’ll break any dolls like that I see.”_

_“Thanks.”_

Six squeezed the wooden lattice so hard it snapped under her fingers. High above, the woman turned and walked out of view. Gritting her teeth, Six hoisted herself up and began to formulate a new plan.

A better plan.

A dangerous plan.

A bad plan.

||

Running from a fleshy mass, turning sharp corners, climbing over breaking architecture. Her heartbeat pounded in her skull, in her feet, and she was jumping. Scrambling over splintered wood, dodging meaty hands that rotted even while still living. Broken glass cut at her feet, she was slipping, running, jumping off the edge…

There was always a moment, suspended in the air, where Six and death danced.

But then her fingers found the hanging light and she swung over the darkness and crash landed on the other side. Bruised and battered, but alive. Her head swimming with visions of another girl in a yellow raincoat, of a dark-haired boy with trusting eyes, both falling into darkness at the other end of her outstretched hands.

Somewhere behind her, a guest fell to their death. Somewhere inside of Six, numbness slid into a sadistic sort of pleasure at the sound as she pushed herself up to keep going.

Her scratched and bleeding feet slipped against the floor as she stumbled forward. Her lungs stuttered on the air around her. Her fingers thrummed in time with her heart that now lived in her ears. And deep in her belly, the hunger awoke.

_Six fell to the ground, the television static whirring behind her. The room around her was dark and empty besides the furniture and a heavy layer of dust on the ragged carpet._

_The room wasn’t empty._

_She pushed herself to her feet and stared at a sickly, glitching version of herself. An echo. A ghost. Faceless, dark, insubstantial. That gnawing, alien feeling began to overtake her. A need, a hunger beyond her own, was clawing its way through her veins._

_The dark Six looked at her with pity. With sadness._

_And Six knew where the emptiness came from. What she had left behind when the Thin Man took her. Because he had only taken her body._

_Her soul looked away, as if unable to watch what she was now. Six collapsed in on herself as the hunger racked her body, growling loudly._

_When she looked again, her soul was gone. Her hunger was not._

_She would find something, anything, to quite her stomach, and then she would find him._

_She would find him._

_She would save him._

_Maybe he would even forgive her._

The sausage was untouched.

Untouched in favor of the Nome who lay dead in front of her.

For the first time in a long time, Six curled up and cried.


	4. ||4||

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Not done moving, but I AM done with finals. So here's the fourth chapter!!

Numb. She was numb again. The elevator rattled her body as it ascended, but she could only focus on the taste of blood in her mouth. On how little control she had over her own actions. On how empty she felt, even as guilt wracked her. What was she now if not a vessel for the guilt this world was full of?

The doors opened to darkness. Dim lights illuminated fragments of hallway. Pieces of deep purple furniture. And then she heard the humming. A deep feminine voice, echoing from the darkness beyond the hallway before her. A familiar tune that gutted her.

_It was battered, rusty, but even still it played so sweetly. How it had gotten from the hunter’s cabin to the Signal Tower was lost on her, but it didn’t matter. She missed its song. She turned the handle, winding the song tight and then letting it free. She sank into the pile of toys – when had those gotten there? – and let the music wash over her._

_Perhaps the Thin Man wasn’t so bad._

_How could someone kind enough to surround her with everything she’d ever wanted be bad? She had everything. Every toy she’d had to leave behind, every piece of clothing that she’d lost, her precious music box. She had everything._

_She had no one._

_Did it matter?_

_“Hey?”_

_A stranger? No… Mono…_

_“Hey, hi…”_

_Six scooted herself forward, pushing her music box towards him. Somehow her limbs felt large, and oversized. Why was Mono so small? Everything was so strange. But he was here now, her friend was here, everything was perfect._

The vase crashed to the ground and the Lady’s voice disappeared. Six held still, her breath stiff in her lungs. Moments and hours passed in a split second. The residence was still silent. Her quarters unmoving.

Another doll broken; an oversized key clutched in her hands. Padding down dusty stairs. Padlock clattering onto the floor. And then running, running, running through the darkness. Don’t look behind, don’t breathe, just run, slide through the gap under the door.

An unbroken mirror tucked away. A weapon.

_An axe smashed through the door and Six scrambled back, her music box slipping through her fingers. Her eyes tracked the sharp metal as it fell to the floor and a kid with a paper bag crouched down, reaching a hand out to her._

_She crashes to floor as a metal hammer smash through the boards keeping the ropes up. Mono scrambles over to her, a hand outstretched._

_The building collapsed around them, a couch fell on top of her and she was pinned to the ground. The dust settled and Mono cleared a path towards her, reaching a his hands to pull her out of the wreckage._

_The ground cracked and crumbled into the abyss and Six watched him jump, trusting her, his hands reaching for her desperately._

The Lady lay weakened in front of her, mask shattered. Her breath was ragged, and Six stumbled slowly towards her, feeling the darkness in the room, the darkness and shadows leaking out of The Lady. She was like the Thin Man, wasn’t she? She could take you, take your soul.

As the Hunger began to overtake her, Six could feel herself, her dark soul self, watching her. Waiting for her.

There was nothing to sate her. Nothing to cease the gnawing in her stomach. Nothing except the monster lying before her.

Her teeth sunk into The Lady’s neck, and the darkness sunk into her.

And she was whole.

The rest was simple. The guests didn’t stand a chance. The surviving Nomes followed her out, stepping into the sunlight for the first time in what felt like years.

The salt spray and the cold wind buffet Six as she stood on the rock above the sea. She closed her eyes, taking the first calm breath she’d ever taken.

She had things to do.

**Author's Note:**

> leave a kudos, leave a comment, i'll read them all and try and respond!


End file.
